Mohun Bagan Super Giant have dug out instances when matches featuring Iranian clubs in Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions have been played at neutral venues.

Bagan said they would produce these precedents before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which settles disputes related to sport through arbitration.

Bagan refused to travel to Iran for Tuesday's AFC Champions League 2 (ACL 2) match against Sepahan SC for "players' safety."

Matches — featuring Iranian teams Esteghlal FC, Shahr Khodro FC, and Tractor FC — from March 2016 to as recently as November 2024 have been played at neutral venues. However, those were either for heightened tension in West Asia or frosty diplomatic relations between Iran and the country the visiting team was from.

For example, in March 2016, AFC had decided to play matches between clubs from Saudi Arabia and Iran at neutral venues. This was because the Saudi Arabian government had travel restrictions to Iran.

Bagan had asked the AFC for a neutral venue, but the request was turned down. They alleged that the AFC refused to share its risk assessment report, despite the governments of India, the UK, Spain and Australia advising their citizens against travel to Iran.

Bagan have three players — Dimitri Petratos, Jamie Maclaren and Jason Cummings — from Australia, while Tom Aldred is from the UK. Alberto Rodriguez and Robson Robinho are from Spain and Brazil, respectively.

Interestingly, there are no travel restrictions from India's Ministry of External Affairs.

However, an advisory dated September 19, 2025, said: "There have been a number of recent cases involving Indian citizens who have been lured to travel to Iran on false promises of employment, or with assurances that they would be sent further to third-countries for employment... All Indian citizens are strongly cautioned to exercise the strictest vigilance regarding such employment promises or offers."

The competition rule for any participating team that withdraws is stringent. It attracts a fine of at least $50,000 and disqualification "from participating in one or more future seasons of the AFC club competitions."

Last year, too, Bagan had pulled out of the match against Tractor FC in Iran on October 2 due to security reasons. Iran had launched a series of missiles at Israel on October 1.